Spectators yesterday booed an injured Novak Djokovic as he left the court in Rod Laver Arena after quitting one set into his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev.
Dealing with a what he said was a torn muscle, Djokovic lost the opener 7-6 (7/5) when he put a forehand volley into the net, then began shaking his head and immediately walked over to shake Zverev’s hand. The 37-year-old Djokovic packed up his equipment and walked off toward the locker room, pausing to respond to the jeers by giving two thumbs-up.
At his news conference, Djokovic said that the pain in his taped left leg was “getting worse and worse.”
Photo: Reuters
He hurt it during his quarter-final victory over Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday night.
“I knew even if I won the first set, it was going to be a huge uphill battle for me,” Djokovic said.
He was bidding for an 11th championship at the Australian Open and record 25th Grand Slam title overall.
This is the second time in the past four major tournaments he was unable to finish because of an injury. He withdrew from last year’s French Open before the quarter-finals because he tore the meniscus in his right knee during a match.
Djokovic underwent surgery in Paris and less than two months later reached the final at Wimbledon, then won a gold medal for Serbia at the Paris Olympics.
There was a lot Djokovic was unsure about.
Might this have been his last appearance at Melbourne Park?
“There is a chance. Who knows?” Djokovic said. “I’ll just have to see how the season goes. I want to keep going.”
He said it was too soon to know how long he might be sidelined.
He said he was not sure yet what would happen to his coaching arrangement with former on-court rival Andy Murray.
What Djokovic did make clear: His focus and goals will not waver.
“It’s not like I’m worrying approaching every Grand Slam now whether I’m going to get injured or not, but statistics are against me in a way in the last couple of years,” he said. “But I’ll keep going. I’ll keep striving to win more Slams. And as long as I feel that I want to put up with all of this, I’ll be around.”
No. 2-seeded Zverev reached his first title match at Melbourne Park and on Sunday faces No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy, the defending champion, who beat No. 21 Ben Shelton of the US 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-2 in yesterday’s second semi-final.
Zverev, a 27-year-old German, is a two-time runner-up at other major tournaments, losing finals in five sets at the 2020 US Open and last year’s French Open.
“My goal is still to compete with the big guys and to compete for these kind of tournaments and try to win them,” Zverev said. “For that, I need to get better. I need to improve on the court. I need to improve physically.”
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
RSS